Living in a seasonal country in the suburbs.

Have been wanting to write this entry for some time but because of more interesting events in my life, just didn’t get around to writing this. More of a reminder to myself than anything.

Since I have been living in the East coast of the States for almost 2 years, I’ve experienced the four seasons twice and it has been very wonderful to see nature at work. It’s also a great opportunity to be reminded of God’s miracles. I’m also living in the suburbs instead of in the city, so I can fully experience the forces of nature. I think raising children in a seasonal country and in the suburbs is very ideal. It makes their senses very keen and they get to enjoy the perks that comes with every season. Here’s why:

Spring

This is my favourite season. The weather is cooling. Not too cold like winter or too hot like summer. Good for taking walks around the neighbourhood. Spring is also a time for planting flowers. Everywhere you go, you can see pretty flowers everywhere. Tulips of different colours are seen on almost every front yards or grass patch. On walks, children get to learn the names of different flowers and how they look like. They can even get to help with the planting of flowers, grass or herbs. It also brings true to the proverb, ‘April showers bring May flowers’.
This is when the trees start flowering after the winter and seeing the process of the trees growing back their leaves is wonderful classroom material too. However, because of the pollen everywhere, it’s also a very bad time if you’re allergic to pollen or have sensitive noses. This is very common period for flu.

Summer

This season is when schools are out and children get to play the whole day! A good time to go to the beach(if you stay near the ocean). The beach in CT is the famous Long Island Sound and even in shallow water, you can see small jellyfish. Can get very hot. Good time for children to play outside the house and sweat it out, which is very healthy!

In the evenings, fireflies can be seen in the front and back yards. Coming from a city, it’s very fascinating for me to see them. I even learnt how to catch them. Apparently, you just put out your hand and bring them very gently towards you. They will just stay still on your hand. You can cup your hands together to see their ‘fire’. I’ve read from somewhere in a blog that in S’pore, some people hit the fireflies to make them giddy and then catch them. Poor fireflies! Summer is also a time when all the bugs and flies are out. Children have fun catching all sorts of bugs in the yards too and again, they learn the names and how the different bugs looks like.

Fall/Autumn

As the name suggest. Fall is when the leaves turn colour and fall off the trees they’re in. In New England(where I’m in), Fall is the prettiest. When driving along the highways, you can see trees of different colours, like orange, red, brown, green, yellow, etc. Each tree has their own timing and that’s why you can see the different stages of the leaves turning colour and falling off. Children can have fun raking leaves with their parents in the yards, although it’s a lot of work sometimes. One game to play is to gather all the leaves into a big pile and just fall backwards into the soft and crispy leaves. Very fun, albeit dirty. Can get cold at night but a light jacket would suffice(depending on where you actually live in).

Winter

Used to be my favourite season. Actually, ask any S’porean and they probably would say this is their favourite one too. That’s because we didn’t know any better! Can get very, very cold and freezing sometimes that you would not want to go out at all! It’s ok if you just go out for a while but not to go for long walks as your toes would be freezing. The wind chill factor is a big thing to consider. Children are able to play in the snow, build snow men, make snow angels, make snow forts, have snow fights and go snow sledding. The best thing of all after that is to have hot chocolate by the fire-place in the house! Also, can roast marshmallows right by the fire-place. A good chance for family bonding.

Older and more enterprising children can go around shoveling snow off others’ driveways to earn some extra money. Schools can also be closed because of too much snow. It’s also very pretty to see white everywhere after it snows. When you go outside, the cars are muffled by the snow on the ground and it’s actually very quiet and peaceful. But very, very hard work to shovel snow off the driveway after a snowstorm. Roads can be dirty or messy too when the snow are at the stage where they melt but not fast enough. Ever seen black snow? That’s when cars have been on the roads for some time and the dirty tires make them black. Yuck!

Well, these are some of my experiences and observations from my almost 2 years of living in CT. It may not apply to all seasonal countries or suburbs. I certainly appreciate nature a lot more but the changing of clothes and the constant need to check the weather before you get dressed is a hassle. Would I get used to hot, sunny S’pore again? I don’t know!



Sylvia
July 18, 2006 at 4:32 pm

winter? nah… spring’s the best. But my nose runs often so… :( and fireflies.. aww, what a pretty sight it must be..